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Top exoplanet hunter keeps job despite serial sexual harassment

By Jacob Aron

One of the world’s leading exoplanet hunters, Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, has been found to have violated his institution’s sexual harassment policy during a series of incidents involving students between 2001 and 2010. But the university isn’t going to suspend or dismiss him – unless he does it again.

Marcy is one of the principal investigators on NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which is responsible for the discovery of most of the nearly 2000 exoplanets known today, and has been tipped for a Nobel prize for his work in the field.

On Friday Buzzfeed News revealed allegations from four women that Marcy had repeatedly engaged in inappropriate physical behaviour, sparking an investigation at Berkeley.

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“The investigation concluded with a finding that Professor Marcy violated campus sexual harassment policy,” said the university in a statement provided to New Scientist. Marcy has now agreed to “abide by clear expectations concerning his future interactions with students”, said the statement. “Were he to fail to meet those expectations, the terms of the agreement provide that he would be immediately subject to sanctions that could include suspension or dismissal.”

Unwelcome behaviour

“While I do not agree with each complaint that was made, it is clear that my behavior was unwelcomed by some women,” said Marcy in his own statement, posted online “I take full responsibility and hold myself completely accountable for my actions and the impact they had. For that and to the women affected, I sincerely apologize.”

But some in the astronomy community feel that Marcy has not been sufficiently sanctioned for his behaviour. “Geoff’s inappropriate actions toward and around women in astronomy is one of the biggest ‘open secrets’ at any exoplanets or AAS [American Astronomical Society] meeting,” said John Johnson of Harvard University, a former student of Marcy’s, in a blog post about his actions. “‘Underground’ networks of women pass information about Geoff to junior scientists in an attempt to keep them safe.”